The Power in the Hour

Well, we are a week into daylight savings time, and I must say… it sucks. I have noticed some law makers are pushing to have this practice of ‘springing forward’ and ‘falling back’ abolished, and I have decided that I need to put my two cents in on the issue.

Case in point… my son brought my grand daughter over for a visit yesterday afternoon, but said when he arrived that he had to be sure to leave in time to be home before dark. Thanks to DST, it can be difficult to decide exactly when ‘dark’ is going to happen, especially if you are traveling. That’s one good reason to set it, and leave it alone. People get tired of having to figure out what the heck time something as simple as dawn and dusk are going to happen.

Another reason? Some of us have to unwind before we actually go to sleep. I’m one of those people, and no, I don’t sleep when it’s still light outside unless I am sick or utterly exhausted. This is not so bad if I can go to bed when it gets dark, and that is still a reasonable hour – say 9 pm. Then I can unwind for up to an hour and still be asleep by 10 pm.

Cover the windows, you say? That’s not the point; I live in Texas, not Alaska, and I should not have to black out my bedroom just to get some sleep on a normal schedule. Besides, just because I am in bed doesn’t mean that the rest of my house or the neighbors will be. All that noise and carrying on is disturbing, especially when one is trying to fall asleep with an over-active imagination.

Why would anyone need to go to bed before midnight, you might ask? Because, I like to get up by 5 am. That’s an hour before the rest of the house, and sometimes I am up by 3 am because I have a story that needs writing or some other work that needs doing. The extra time allows me to do that surrounded by peace and quiet.

So how does daylight savings interfere? I’m all out of sorts because of the switch, which is forced upon our entire family. We have to match what the rest of the community is doing if we go to school or work… there’s no getting around it. That means that I don’t lose that hour of sleep for one night; I lose it EVERY NIGHT until DST ends in the fall. Either that, or I get up later because I had to go to bed later, and instead of losing an hour of sleep, I have lost an hour of work time. Some choice there…

Let’s get on this people. It’s time to stop messing with the clock. Put it on standard time and leave it alone!